Some Rambling Thoughts on Mad Men and Andy Warhol
I've been on a bit of an Andy Warhol / Velvet Underground kick of late. I've been listening to old Velvets albums and finally got around to reading The Andy Warhol Diaries. I've also discovered a trove of Warhol related audio files on UbuWeb, an excellent resource for avant garde art. Of particular interest are audio clips recorded by filmmaker David Cronenberg for a Warhol exhibit he curated back in 2006. Cronenberg is a filmmaker I admire immensely and I was not aware of the influence Warhol had on him so that was an interesting surprise.
Earlier this afternoon I won an Ebay auction on an out of print LP of Songs for Drella, a concept album recorded by ex-Velvets Lou Reed and John Cale as a tribute to their late friend Warhol. It was recorded shortly after Warhol died and is a blunt but loving look at Warhol's life as well as their friendship with him. Before getting home I stopped by I Luv Video and rented the Warhol produced Blood for Dracula (originally released as Andy Warhol's Dracula) as well as the Valerie Solanis biopic I Shot Andy Warhol featuring Jed Harris as Warhol. Of all the actors who have portrayed Warhol on film (including David Bowie and Christian Glover) I think Harris' performance is by far the best. Harris is, of course, one of the stars of Mad Men and I'm glad to see that he is no longer listed as a guest star but rather as a member of the regular cast.
Ok, apart from the Harris connection what does Andy Warhol have to do with Mad Men? I'm getting there, I'm just retracing my steps. Last week's premiere had Peggy and her new assistant repeatedly calling each other "John" and "Marsha". I recognized it at once as a reference to the classic Stan Freberg routine. I know that because I own a copy of The Best of Stan Freberg on vinyl. Or I thought I did. When I couldn't find it amongst my records I realized that I must have sold or traded it a while back. Such sacrifices must be made when supporting a vinyl habit. That's OK, since I only listened to it once and I probably traded it for something better. My only regret is that thanks to Mad Men there might have been more interest in Freberg and maybe I could have gotten a bit more for it. Oh, well.
I didn't find the Freberg album but I did spot a 1957 Keely Smith album; I Wish You Love. I acquired it when a friend gave me a box full of records that used to belong to his aunt. I knew who Smith was because I'm a big fan of her husband, Louis Prima. In fact, one of my favorite records in my collection is a 45 of Prima and Smith doing a duet of "That Old Black Magic", my absolute favorite rendition of that song.
I pulled the Smith album out and examined the sleeve. I turned it around and to my surprise the back cover features what appears to be an Andy Warhol illustration! I've seen enough examples of Warhol's blotted line technique to recognize it when I see it. The camera phone picture doesn't do it justice but this definitely looks like a pre-Pop Warhol.
Tell me that doesn't look like Warhol's trademark ink blot style.
Prior to becoming famous as a gallery artist Warhol was a highly successful art director and commercial illustrator in the world of New York advertising. This was in the pre-Factory days; before the wigs, the leather jackets and dark jeans. During this early period in his career Warhol still dressed conservatively, the better to fit in with his more straight laced Madison Avenue clients. Sterling Cooper Draper Price might be a fictional ad agency but they would probably know Andy by reputation (certainly Kurt and Smitty would) although by the early 60's - the time in which Mad Men is set - Warhol was already well on his way to becoming a Pop Art Superstar. In fact, last week's season premiere took place during Thanksgiving of 1964; a few weeks after the pivotal exhibit, The American Supermarket brought Pop Art to the attention of the mainstream.
Warhol's loose and whimsical drawings graced a large number of ads as well as window displays and album covers - long before his classic covers for the likes of The Velvet Underground and The Rolling Stones. Many but not all of his illustrations are signed or initialed. The illustration on the back of the Keely Smith album is not so I'm not 100% certain Warhol did it but it's the right period and the style certainly recalls his well known inkblot technique. The inkblot technique not only anticipated his later trademark silk screen method but is still influential today as can be evidenced by the retro movement.
While doing some research I found some other examples of Warhol's early album covers. It turns out that he did several but no one had ever bothered to catalog them all until curator Paul Marachel stumbled upon an album with a Warhol cover in a bin of old records. That led him on a quest to track down as many Warhol album covers as he could; the result being Andy Warhol: The Record Covers 1949-1987, Catalogue Raisonne. It's a pricey book but the Austin Public Library has a copy which I have placed on reserve. If Warhol did indeed provide the illustration on the back of the Smith album this book should provide confirmation. Supposedly a few more Warhol album covers have been discovered since the publication of Marachel's book. Maybe I've found another one - although I doubt it. Smith may not be that well known but she's hardly obscure. Either way, my curiousity is bound to be satisfied. Speaking of satisfying my curiosity, I'm off to watch the latest episode of Mad Men.
Earlier this afternoon I won an Ebay auction on an out of print LP of Songs for Drella, a concept album recorded by ex-Velvets Lou Reed and John Cale as a tribute to their late friend Warhol. It was recorded shortly after Warhol died and is a blunt but loving look at Warhol's life as well as their friendship with him. Before getting home I stopped by I Luv Video and rented the Warhol produced Blood for Dracula (originally released as Andy Warhol's Dracula) as well as the Valerie Solanis biopic I Shot Andy Warhol featuring Jed Harris as Warhol. Of all the actors who have portrayed Warhol on film (including David Bowie and Christian Glover) I think Harris' performance is by far the best. Harris is, of course, one of the stars of Mad Men and I'm glad to see that he is no longer listed as a guest star but rather as a member of the regular cast.
Ok, apart from the Harris connection what does Andy Warhol have to do with Mad Men? I'm getting there, I'm just retracing my steps. Last week's premiere had Peggy and her new assistant repeatedly calling each other "John" and "Marsha". I recognized it at once as a reference to the classic Stan Freberg routine. I know that because I own a copy of The Best of Stan Freberg on vinyl. Or I thought I did. When I couldn't find it amongst my records I realized that I must have sold or traded it a while back. Such sacrifices must be made when supporting a vinyl habit. That's OK, since I only listened to it once and I probably traded it for something better. My only regret is that thanks to Mad Men there might have been more interest in Freberg and maybe I could have gotten a bit more for it. Oh, well.
I didn't find the Freberg album but I did spot a 1957 Keely Smith album; I Wish You Love. I acquired it when a friend gave me a box full of records that used to belong to his aunt. I knew who Smith was because I'm a big fan of her husband, Louis Prima. In fact, one of my favorite records in my collection is a 45 of Prima and Smith doing a duet of "That Old Black Magic", my absolute favorite rendition of that song.
I pulled the Smith album out and examined the sleeve. I turned it around and to my surprise the back cover features what appears to be an Andy Warhol illustration! I've seen enough examples of Warhol's blotted line technique to recognize it when I see it. The camera phone picture doesn't do it justice but this definitely looks like a pre-Pop Warhol.
Tell me that doesn't look like Warhol's trademark ink blot style.
Prior to becoming famous as a gallery artist Warhol was a highly successful art director and commercial illustrator in the world of New York advertising. This was in the pre-Factory days; before the wigs, the leather jackets and dark jeans. During this early period in his career Warhol still dressed conservatively, the better to fit in with his more straight laced Madison Avenue clients. Sterling Cooper Draper Price might be a fictional ad agency but they would probably know Andy by reputation (certainly Kurt and Smitty would) although by the early 60's - the time in which Mad Men is set - Warhol was already well on his way to becoming a Pop Art Superstar. In fact, last week's season premiere took place during Thanksgiving of 1964; a few weeks after the pivotal exhibit, The American Supermarket brought Pop Art to the attention of the mainstream.
Warhol's loose and whimsical drawings graced a large number of ads as well as window displays and album covers - long before his classic covers for the likes of The Velvet Underground and The Rolling Stones. Many but not all of his illustrations are signed or initialed. The illustration on the back of the Keely Smith album is not so I'm not 100% certain Warhol did it but it's the right period and the style certainly recalls his well known inkblot technique. The inkblot technique not only anticipated his later trademark silk screen method but is still influential today as can be evidenced by the retro movement.
While doing some research I found some other examples of Warhol's early album covers. It turns out that he did several but no one had ever bothered to catalog them all until curator Paul Marachel stumbled upon an album with a Warhol cover in a bin of old records. That led him on a quest to track down as many Warhol album covers as he could; the result being Andy Warhol: The Record Covers 1949-1987, Catalogue Raisonne. It's a pricey book but the Austin Public Library has a copy which I have placed on reserve. If Warhol did indeed provide the illustration on the back of the Smith album this book should provide confirmation. Supposedly a few more Warhol album covers have been discovered since the publication of Marachel's book. Maybe I've found another one - although I doubt it. Smith may not be that well known but she's hardly obscure. Either way, my curiousity is bound to be satisfied. Speaking of satisfying my curiosity, I'm off to watch the latest episode of Mad Men.